Through the Eyes of Boricuas: A New Exhibition Popping Up in London and Toronto

Rooted in Resilience, Radiating Across Continents

‘Through the Eyes of Boricuas’ is a transatlantic cultural exhibition opening 12 September 2024 at Somerset House in London and 15 September 2024 at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto. Curated by Dr. Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel and co-produced by the Puerto Rico Arts Initiative and the British Council, the exhibition presents 42 contemporary Puerto Rican and diasporic artists across two major institutions separated by 5,600 kilometres but united by shared histories of colonialism, migration, and creative resistance. Unlike conventional art shows, this project embeds hospitality principles directly into its curatorial framework—treating gallery spaces as sites of welcome, dialogue, and embodied care. Somerset House’s West Wing galleries span 1,240 square metres, while the AGO’s newly renovated Galleria Italia wing allocates 980 square metres exclusively for the exhibition. Both venues have reconfigured entry points, seating zones, and acoustic buffers to reduce sensory overload—a direct response to community consultations with Puerto Rican elders, youth collectives, and disability advocates.

A Hospitality-Infused Curatorial Framework

The exhibition’s conceptual backbone draws from hospitalidad crítica—a term coined by scholar Dr. Martínez-San Miguel to describe practices that extend beyond courtesy into structural inclusion. Rather than treating visitors as passive observers, ‘Through the Eyes of Boricuas’ activates spatial hospitality through tactile, multisensory engagement. At Somerset House, the main entrance features a 7-metre-long reclaimed mahogany threshold installed by San Juan–based studio Taller de Arquitectura y Diseño (TAD), embedded with fragments of hurricane-damaged wood salvaged from homes in Loíza and Guaynabo after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Visitors are invited to pause, remove footwear if comfortable, and receive a small ceramic cup of locally brewed café con leche—served by staff trained in trauma-informed service protocols developed in partnership with the non-profit organization Café Con Voz. In Toronto, the AGO has partnered with local Puerto Rican-owned café La Casita on College Street to supply beans roasted using traditional colmado-style methods; each cup served contains 180 ml of coffee blended with 60 ml of oat milk or whole milk, calibrated to match the bittersweet balance favoured in Santurce cafés.

Designing for Belonging

Architectural interventions prioritise accessibility without aesthetic compromise. All signage uses OpenDyslexic typeface at minimum 24-point size, with bilingual English/Spanish text printed on matte-finish vinyl to eliminate glare. Seating areas include modular ottomans upholstered in handwoven guano palm fibre—sourced from cooperatives in Adjuntas and certified by the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture. Each ottoman measures 55 cm in diameter and 42 cm in height, engineered for ergonomic support across diverse body types. Soundscapes are delivered via directional speakers mounted at 1.6 metres above floor level—the average seated adult eye-line—to prevent auditory spill into adjacent zones. The audio content includes oral histories recorded in barrios such as Río Piedras, Vega Alta, and Caguas, edited into 9-minute loops that shift dynamically based on real-time visitor density detected by discreet ceiling-mounted sensors.

Art That Anchors Memory and Movement

The exhibition’s visual core comprises three distinct yet interwoven sections: ‘Landmarks’, ‘Thresholds’, and ‘Afterimages’. ‘Landmarks’ foregrounds site-specific works responding to physical geography and contested sovereignty. Notably, Sofía Córdova’s Coastal Lineage (2024) occupies a 4.2 × 6.8-metre wall at Somerset House using pigment extracted from coastal mangrove sediment collected near Las Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve. The pigment—processed using ancestral fermentation techniques revived by the Maricao-based collective Raíces del Mar—is applied in layered washes that subtly shift hue under natural light, mimicking tidal rhythms. At the AGO, Adrián Nieves’ El Puente Que No Existe (The Bridge That Does Not Exist) reconstructs a full-scale, non-functional replica of the historic Puente de los Leones in Ponce—built from 3.2 tonnes of recycled steel sourced from decommissioned Toronto Transit Commission bus frames and welded by members of the Puerto Rican Engineers Association of Ontario.

Material Histories, Embodied Knowledge

Several works foreground craft as critical methodology. The textile installation Cuentos del Suelo by the collective Mujeres Tejiendo Historias features 17 hand-embroidered panels measuring 120 × 90 cm each, stitched over six months in community workshops held at Casa Taína in Santurce and the Toronto-based non-profit Mi Casa. Threads used include organic cotton dyed with native plants: achiote seeds (for burnt orange), añil leaves (indigo blue), and granadilla fruit skins (terracotta). Each panel tells a story of land dispossession, agricultural labour, or mutual aid networks—verified through cross-referencing with archival documents held at the Archivo General de Puerto Rico and the Library and Archives Canada. One panel depicts the 1934 Hacienda La Josefina sugar strike; another documents the 2022 water shutoff protests in Barrio Obrero, San Juan. Stitch counts per panel range from 12,400 to 18,900, reflecting the time-intensive nature of memory work as resistance.

Diaspora as Living Archive

Rather than presenting diaspora as displacement, the exhibition treats it as generative infrastructure. A dedicated ‘Diaspora Hub’ at both venues functions as a rotating co-working and storytelling space. In London, it occupies a repurposed former ticket booth inside Somerset House’s courtyard—refitted with soundproofing rated STC 52 and furnished with eight adjustable-height desks (height range: 65–125 cm) manufactured by UK-based ErgoForm. In Toronto, the Hub is housed in the AGO’s Weston Family Learning Centre, where a custom-built shelving unit holds 217 physical objects contributed by Puerto Rican families across Ontario—including a 1958 Sears catalogue annotated with handwritten notes about shipping costs to Mayagüez, a 1973 LP of Willie Colón’s Lo Mato, and a 2019 handmade vejigante mask crafted by artist José E. Rivera during his recovery from Hurricane Maria-related respiratory illness. These items are not displayed behind glass but placed on open, low-profile shelves at waist height (92 cm), encouraging tactile interaction under staff supervision.

Community-Led Programming Beyond the Gallery Walls

Public programming extends far beyond opening receptions. Over the 14-week run, both venues host weekly ‘Boricua Breakfasts’—free morning gatherings featuring food prepared by chefs from Puerto Rican-owned restaurants. In London, these take place every Saturday at 9:30 a.m. in Somerset House’s Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, serving dishes such as mofongo relleno (made with plantains sourced from Dominica and filled with slow-cooked pork shoulder marinated for 72 hours in adobo criollo) and arroz con gandules cooked in copper pots imported from Ponce. In Toronto, breakfasts occur every Sunday at 10 a.m. at the AGO’s Marvin Gelber Gallery, with menu items including quesitos baked daily by La Casita’s pastry team using locally milled organic flour and Puerto Rican cream cheese aged for 14 days. Each session includes facilitated conversations led by trained community moderators using a protocol developed by the University of Puerto Rico’s Center for the Study of Political Identity.

Measuring Impact Through Relational Metrics

The exhibition intentionally departs from standard attendance and social media metrics. Instead, impact is tracked through five relational indicators co-designed with Puerto Rican community councils in both cities: (1) average time spent per visitor (target: ≥38 minutes); (2) number of repeat visits (goal: 22% of total attendance); (3) participation rate in tactile or oral components (minimum 65%); (4) post-visit survey responses indicating increased awareness of Puerto Rico’s political status (baseline: 31% in pre-launch surveys; target: ≥74%); and (5) number of documented new collaborations between UK/Canadian institutions and Puerto Rican cultural organisations (tracked via MOU signings). Preliminary data from soft-launch previews in June 2024 showed an average dwell time of 41.2 minutes in London and 39.7 minutes in Toronto—exceeding targets before official opening.

These metrics inform real-time adjustments. For example, after early feedback indicated confusion around Puerto Rico’s Commonwealth status, the exhibition added a 2.4-metre-wide interactive timeline titled ‘Sovereignty in Real Time’—a touchscreen interface developed by Toronto’s Momentary Studio that layers legal milestones, protest footage, census data, and congressional voting records. Users can filter by year (1898–2024), theme (e.g., ‘Disaster Governance’, ‘Language Policy’), or institution (e.g., U.S. Congress, UN Decolonization Committee). The timeline is updated biweekly with verified data from the Congressional Research Service and the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization reports.

Hospitality as Structural Commitment

Behind the scenes, the exhibition implements labour standards rarely seen in major cultural institutions. All 38 exhibiting artists received full production budgets—not just honoraria—with minimum fees set at £8,500 (London) and CAD $12,200 (Toronto), aligned with the 2024 rates established by the Puerto Rico Artists’ Guild. Staffing reflects deep local investment: 73% of front-of-house personnel at Somerset House are either Puerto Rican nationals or first-generation diaspora residents of London; at the AGO, 68% of gallery attendants identify as Puerto Rican or Afro-Puerto Rican. Both venues provide hourly wages exceeding local living wage benchmarks: £13.15/hour in London (vs. UK living wage of £12.00), and CAD $22.45/hour in Toronto (vs. Ontario’s provincial minimum of $16.55). All staff completed 12 hours of anti-colonial facilitation training delivered by Boricua educators from the nonprofit organisation Enraízate, covering topics including linguistic justice, historical erasure in tourism narratives, and decolonial hospitality ethics.

This structural commitment extends to vendor partnerships. Catering services are exclusively contracted with Puerto Rican–owned businesses: in London, it’s Boricua Kitchen Ltd., founded in 2018 in Peckham and now supplying 92% of all exhibition-related food service; in Toronto, it’s Cocina Boricua Collective, a worker cooperative operating out of the Regent Park Community Food Centre since 2019. Both vendors adhere to strict sourcing guidelines: no imported plantains (all must be from the Windward Islands or Dominican Republic, verified via Fair Trade certification), and zero single-use plastics. Packaging uses compostable cellulose film derived from sugarcane waste, certified to EN 13432 standards and industrially compostable within 90 days.

Building Bridges, Not Just Exhibits

‘Through the Eyes of Boricuas’ concludes not with a closing reception but with a ‘Bridge-Building Summit’—a two-day convening hosted jointly by the University of London’s Institute of Latin American Studies and York University’s Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change. Scheduled for 7–8 December 2024, the summit will bring together 42 participants: 14 Puerto Rican community organisers, 14 UK-based housing and hospitality sector leaders (including representatives from Premier Inn, The Hoxton, and YHA), and 14 Canadian urban planners and policy makers (including staff from the City of Toronto’s Affordable Housing Office and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport). The agenda focuses on replicable models: how hotel lobbies can double as civic forums, how hostel common areas can host language revitalisation circles, and how boutique hotels can integrate local artisan commissions into guest room design—not as décor but as living contracts.

One pilot initiative already underway is the ‘Boricua Hostel Residency’, launching in January 2025 at Generator Hostel London King’s Cross and HI Toronto Downtown. Each property will host one Puerto Rican artist for a three-month residency, with private studio space, complimentary accommodation for two, and a £3,200 stipend. Crucially, the residency includes guaranteed access to the hostel’s public areas—not as a performer, but as a co-designer of communal experiences. At Generator London, resident artist Carla Díaz will lead weekly ‘Coffee & Code’ sessions teaching HTML/CSS basics using bilingual prompts inspired by Puerto Rican folkloric motifs; at HI Toronto, multimedia artist Raúl Delgado will redesign the hostel’s laundry room signage system into a narrative map of Puerto Rican neighbourhoods, printed on durable PVC banners with Braille overlays.

Sustaining Momentum Beyond the Run

To ensure longevity, the exhibition includes a digital archive accessible via QR codes embedded in all physical labels. The archive hosts high-resolution images, artist interviews, educational toolkits, and downloadable lesson plans aligned with the UK National Curriculum (Key Stage 4 History and Geography) and Ontario’s Grade 11 Social Sciences curriculum. Teachers who complete the associated professional development module—developed by the University of Manchester’s Centre for Latin American Cultural Studies and the Ontario College of Teachers—receive 3.5 accredited professional learning hours. As of 30 August 2024, 217 UK schools and 189 Ontario schools had pre-registered for classroom access.

The exhibition also launched a micro-grant programme administered by the Puerto Rico Community Foundation. Ten grants of USD $5,000 each will be awarded to grassroots projects that translate exhibition themes into local action—for example, a ‘Puerto Rican Pantry Project’ in Manchester converting vacant retail units into community food hubs stocked with Puerto Rican staples, or a ‘Barrio Soundwalk’ in Scarborough mapping oral histories onto geolocated audio trails. Applications opened 15 August and close 15 October 2024, with decisions announced 15 November.

What makes ‘Through the Eyes of Boricuas’ distinctive in the hospitality-adjacent cultural landscape is its refusal to treat Puerto Rican identity as spectacle. There are no ‘tropical’ colour palettes imposed by curatorial fiat, no generic ‘Latin’ music playlists, and no tokenised representations of resilience. Instead, the exhibition insists on specificity: the precise pH level (6.2–6.8) required for optimal coquí frog habitat referenced in sound design; the exact dimensions of a 1950s colmado counter (1.12 m wide × 0.95 m deep) replicated in a participatory installation; the chemical composition of volcanic ash from the 1918 eruption of Mount Pelée—used as pigment base in one mixed-media piece. This rigour honours the complexity of Boricua life while inviting non-Puerto Rican audiences into relationship—not as consumers of culture, but as co-stewards of shared spatial ethics.

For hospitality professionals—whether managing a boutique hotel in Shoreditch or a youth hostel in Kensington—this exhibition offers actionable frameworks. Consider how front-desk interactions might integrate multilingual welcome scripts co-written with local diaspora communities. Imagine guest room directories redesigned as bilingual zines featuring neighbourhood stories rather than sterile maps. Picture communal kitchens outfitted not just with appliances, but with curated ingredient kits and recipe cards co-developed with immigrant chefs. ‘Through the Eyes of Boricuas’ demonstrates that hospitality excellence isn’t measured solely in occupancy rates or Net Promoter Scores—it’s quantified in the number of times a visitor feels genuinely seen, the depth of their sustained attention, and the tangible commitments they carry into their own professional practice.

The exhibition’s dual-city launch underscores a vital truth: cultural resonance isn’t bound by geography. When Somerset House installs reclaimed mahogany thresholds and the AGO welds TTC bus frames into symbolic bridges, they’re not merely hosting art—they’re constructing infrastructures of recognition. And in doing so, they offer a model for the entire hospitality sector: that the most memorable guest experiences emerge not from flawless service delivery alone, but from the deliberate, humble, and sustained practice of making space—physically, emotionally, and politically—for those whose stories have long been marginalised in mainstream narratives.

• Exhibition dates: Somerset House, London — 12 September to 15 December 2024; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto — 15 September to 15 December 2024
• Free admission at both venues, with timed-entry slots available online via somersethouse.org.uk and ago.ca
• ASL interpretation available at all public programs; live captioning provided for all talks and film screenings
• Complimentary childcare (ages 3–12) offered every Saturday and Sunday at both locations, staffed by certified early childhood educators fluent in Spanish and English
• Artist-led walking tours depart twice daily from both venues, following routes mapped in collaboration with Puerto Rican urban geographers to highlight overlooked sites of diasporic significance

1. Pre-visit accessibility guide available in PDF, EPUB, and large-print formats on both websites
2. All exhibition texts translated by native Puerto Rican linguists—not generic machine translation
3. Staff trained in de-escalation protocols specific to trauma related to displacement and colonial violence
4. Feedback kiosks located at exit points accept written, audio, and pictorial input
5. Post-exhibition impact report to be published publicly by 31 March 2025, detailing all five relational metrics and lessons learned